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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: drill · last · mine · key · pit · spring · court · stock

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. court — for sport
  3. court — of a king
  4. stock — goods
  5. last — to go on
  6. key — for a lock
  7. mine — for digging
  8. drill — a practice
  9. drill — army training
  10. drill — the tool
  11. spring — a coil
  12. pit — a hole
  13. key — the most important part
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. stock — shares
  16. pit — in a race
  17. spring — of water
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. court — of law
  20. key — in music
  21. last — finally
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. last — final
  24. spring — the season

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com